I was at my Dad’s over the weekend replacing an ancient water heater as well as the main supply line from the street meter to the house. He lives in an older neighborhood in Milledgeville, Georgia that’s filled with 1960s brick ranch houses – carports are more common than garages in the mild climate here. It’s also a CC-rich environment, with numerous cars from the ’70s on up still in regular use, including this 1982-87 (going by the front grille) El Camino. This one’s a virtual time capsule and looks like it just came home from the dealer.

In Israel these are firmly collectors cars, mostly requiring work (most El Caminos were used as intended by GM, i.e., as workhorses owned by contractors and the like, hence most will have led a hard life). We had quite a few as there was a tax advantage back then to owning a truck, and there was even an Israel-only “landau-ised” 5 seater.

El Caminos must have one of the highest survival rates among older cars — sometimes I think I see more of them now than I did 30 years ago. And like Sarcasmo noted above, I can think of a number of houses around here that have more than one El Camino in the driveway.

Something has always attracted me to El Caminos, particularly the later (’82-87) models like this one, even though (or perhaps, because) they’re completely impractical as either a car or a truck. This photo is a great one because it really captures this car in its natural habitat!

If you don’t need more than 2 seats, they’re not impractical at all as a car. Not too big, a huge “trunk” if you add a bed cover, sturdy, easy to maintain, and good-looking. Plus if you get an ’85-’87 with the 4.3 V6, it’s fuel injected and the mileage is tolerable.

Chevrolet’s earlier ’55-57 Cameos were an earlier attempt only they were an attempt to make a truck look like a car. They are very rare and I have only seen 2 of them in the wild in the last 55 years. They tried again in ’59-60 to have a car-truck or truck-car in response to the Ford Ranchero. They came back in ’64-77 based on a Chevelle and ’78-87 based on a RWD body. A lot of manufacturers have offered a car-truck over the years but it seems the El Camino has been the one that lasted the longest. There was even a GMC version offered in the ’70’s but its name escapes me, I want to say Conquistador or something like that.

I had a patient who drove a burgundy 1984. WWII Navy vet who took care of his wife who suffered from dementia. The guy was up promptly at 4 am every morning to start his chores and would be at my door at 9:55am should he need something.

He would tell me how would be buyers would always approach him for his car. When he said he growled and told them to go away I believe it. Sadly he passed away last year at the age of 89 due to cancer. No idea what happened to his wife or his car but I’m sure relatives were involved.

I’ve wondered that myself. The Elky is not always under the carport (out being driven, I presume), and I’ve never seen the garage door open. I am always pressed for time when I visit, but one of these days I need to do a “walk and talk” around Dad’s neighborhood. There are a lot of houses like this, but also a growing number where the elderly owners passed and they either sold out or are renting – either way, the houses (and cars parked there) tend to go down pretty fast.

I like the looks of these as well as the concurrent Malibu 2-doors, but the ugly instrument panel with the stupid-looking box in the center would prevent me from ever owning one. (Photo found online….)

The car pictured has the “down-market” instrument panel, I would usually avoid those cars. These were also offered with the “full” set of instruments or what is sometimes known as the Monte Carlo instrument cluster, they do away with that trio under the radio.
My beef with El Caminos of this vintage? While I like the rear window treatment, it makes it harder to find a cover for the bed.
BTW, an older account exec at the company I once worked for had a sweet black and gold El Camino…a 78 and his other car was a Cougar XR7 with a full brougham package.